Democrats and Republicans Passing Soft Regulations - The Atlantic
►https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/06/democrats-and-republicans-passing-soft-regulations/592558
Your face is no longer just your face—it’s been augmented. At a football game, your face is currency, used to buy food at the stadium. At the mall, it is a ledger, used to alert salespeople to your past purchases, both online and offline, and shopping preferences. At a protest, it is your arrest history. At the morgue, it is how authorities will identify your body.
Facial-recognition technology stands to transform social life, tracking our every move for companies, law enforcement, and anyone else with the right tools. Lawmakers are weighing the risks versus rewards, with a recent wave of proposed regulation in Washington State, Massachusetts, Oakland, and the U.S. legislature. In May, Republicans and Democrats in the House Committee on Oversight and Reform heard hours of testimony about how unregulated facial recognition already tracks protesters, impacts the criminal-justice system, and exacerbates racial biases. Surprisingly, they agreed to work together to regulate it.
The Microsoft president Brad Smith called for governments “to start adopting laws to regulate this technology” last year, while the Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy echoed those comments in June, likening the technology to a knife. It’s a less dramatic image than the plutonium and nuclear-waste metaphors critics employ, but his message—coming from an executive at one of the world’s most powerful facial-recognition technology outfits—is clear: This stuff is dangerous.
But crucially, Jassy and Smith seem to argue, it’s also inevitable. In calling for regulation, Microsoft and Amazon have pulled a neat trick: Instead of making the debate about whether facial recognition should be widely adopted, they’ve made it about how such adoption would work.
Without regulation, the potential for misuse of facial-recognition technology is high, particularly for people of color. In 2016 the MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini published research showing that tech performs better on lighter-skinned men than on darker-skinned men, and performs worst on darker-skinned women. When the ACLU matched Congress members against a criminal database, Amazon’s Rekognition software misidentified black Congress members more often than white ones, despite there being far fewer black members.
This includes House Chairman Elijah Cummings, a Baltimore native whose face was also scanned when he attended a 2015 rally in memory of Freddie Gray, the unarmed black teenager who died of a spinal-cord injury while in police custody. The Baltimore Police Department used facial recognition to identify protesters and target any with outstanding warrants. Most of the protesters were black, meaning the software used on them might have been less accurate, increasing the likelihood of misidentification. Expert witnesses at the committee hearing in May warned of a chilling effect: Protesters, wary of being identified via facial recognition and matched against criminal databases, could choose to stay home rather than exercise their freedom of assembly.
Microsoft and Amazon both claim to have lessened the racial disparity in accuracy since the original MIT study and the ACLU’s report. But fine-tuning the technology to better recognize black faces is only part of the process: Perfectly accurate technology could still be used to support harmful policing, which affects people of color. The racial-accuracy problem is a distraction; how the technology is used matters, and that’s where policy could prevent abuse. And the solution Microsoft and Amazon propose would require auditing face recognition for racial and gender biases after they’re already in use—which might be too late.
In early May, The Washington Post reported that police were feeding forensic sketches to their facial-recognition software. A witness described a suspect to a sketch artist, then police uploaded the sketch to Amazon’s Rekognition, looking for hits, and eventually arrested someone. Experts at the congressional hearing in May were shocked that a sketch submitted to a database could credibly qualify as enough reasonable suspicion to arrest someone.
Read: Half of American adults are in police facial-recognition databases
But Jassy, the Amazon Web Services CEO, claimed that Amazon has never received a report of police misuse. In May, Amazon shareholders voted down a proposal that would ban the sale of Rekognition to police, and halt sales to law enforcement and ICE. Jassy said that police should only rely on Rekognition results when the system is 99 percent confident in the accuracy of a match. This is a potentially critical safeguard against misidentification, but it’s just a suggestion: Amazon doesn’t require police to adhere to this threshold, or even ask. In January, Gizmodo quoted an Oregon sheriff’s official saying his department ignores thresholds completely. (“There has never been a single reported complaint from the public and no issues with the local constituency around their use of Rekognition,” a representative from Amazon said, in part, in a statement to Gizmodo.)
#Reconnaissance_faciale #Libertés #Espace_public #Etat_policier
]]>Beyond the Hype of Lab-Grown Diamonds
▻https://earther.gizmodo.com/beyond-the-hype-of-lab-grown-diamonds-1834890351
Billions of years ago when the world was still young, treasure began forming deep underground. As the edges of Earth’s tectonic plates plunged down into the upper mantle, bits of carbon, some likely hailing from long-dead life forms were melted and compressed into rigid lattices. Over millions of years, those lattices grew into the most durable, dazzling gems the planet had ever cooked up. And every so often, for reasons scientists still don’t fully understand, an eruption would send a stash of these stones rocketing to the surface inside a bubbly magma known as kimberlite.
There, the diamonds would remain, nestled in the kimberlite volcanoes that delivered them from their fiery home, until humans evolved, learned of their existence, and began to dig them up.
The epic origin of Earth’s diamonds has helped fuel a powerful marketing mythology around them: that they are objects of otherworldly strength and beauty; fitting symbols of eternal love. But while “diamonds are forever” may be the catchiest advertising slogan ever to bear some geologic truth, the supply of these stones in the Earth’s crust, in places we can readily reach them, is far from everlasting. And the scars we’ve inflicted on the land and ourselves in order to mine diamonds has cast a shadow that still lingers over the industry.
Some diamond seekers, however, say we don’t need to scour the Earth any longer, because science now offers an alternative: diamonds grown in labs. These gems aren’t simulants or synthetic substitutes; they are optically, chemically, and physically identical to their Earth-mined counterparts. They’re also cheaper, and in theory, limitless. The arrival of lab-grown diamonds has rocked the jewelry world to its core and prompted fierce pushback from diamond miners. Claims abound on both sides.
Growers often say that their diamonds are sustainable and ethical; miners and their industry allies counter that only gems plucked from the Earth can be considered “real” or “precious.” Some of these assertions are subjective, others are supported only by sparse, self-reported, or industry-backed data. But that’s not stopping everyone from making them.
This is a fight over image, and when it comes to diamonds, image is everything.
A variety of cut, polished Ada Diamonds created in a lab, including smaller melee stones and large center stones. 22.94 carats total. (2.60 ct. pear, 2.01 ct. asscher, 2.23 ct. cushion, 3.01 ct. radiant, 1.74 ct. princess, 2.11 ct. emerald, 3.11 ct. heart, 3.00 ct. oval, 3.13 ct. round.)
Image: Sam Cannon (Earther)
Same, but different
The dream of lab-grown diamond dates back over a century. In 1911, science fiction author H.G. Wells described what would essentially become one of the key methods for making diamond—recreating the conditions inside Earth’s mantle on its surface—in his short story The Diamond Maker. As the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) notes, there were a handful of dubious attempts to create diamonds in labs in the late 19th and early 20th century, but the first commercial diamond production wouldn’t emerge until the mid-1950s, when scientists with General Electric worked out a method for creating small, brown stones. Others, including De Beers, soon developed their own methods for synthesizing the gems, and use of the lab-created diamond in industrial applications, from cutting tools to high power electronics, took off.
According to the GIA’s James Shigley, the first experimental production of gem-quality diamond occurred in 1970. Yet by the early 2000s, gem-quality stones were still small, and often tinted yellow with impurities. It was only in the last five or so years that methods for growing diamonds advanced to the point that producers began churning out large, colorless stones consistently. That’s when the jewelry sector began to take a real interest.
Today, that sector is taking off. The International Grown Diamond Association (IGDA), a trade group formed in 2016 by a dozen lab diamond growers and sellers, now has about 50 members, according to IGDA secretary general Dick Garard. When the IGDA first formed, lab-grown diamonds were estimated to represent about 1 percent of a $14 billion rough diamond market. This year, industry analyst Paul Zimnisky estimates they account for 2-3 percent of the market.
He expects that share will only continue to grow as factories in China that already produce millions of carats a year for industrial purposes start to see an opportunity in jewelry.
“I have a real problem with people claiming one is ethical and another is not.”
“This year some [factories] will come up from 100,000 gem-quality diamonds to one to two million,” Zimnisky said. “They already have the infrastructure and equipment in place” and are in the process of upgrading it. (About 150 million carats of diamonds were mined last year, according to a global analysis of the industry conducted by Bain & Company.)
Production ramp-up aside, 2018 saw some other major developments across the industry. In the summer, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reversed decades of guidance when it expanded the definition of a diamond to include those created in labs and dropped ‘synthetic’ as a recommended descriptor for lab-grown stones. The decision came on the heels of the world’s top diamond producer, De Beers, announcing the launch of its own lab-grown diamond line, Lightbox, after having once vowed never to sell man-made stones as jewelry.
“I would say shock,” Lightbox Chief Marketing Officer Sally Morrison told Earther when asked how the jewelry world responded to the company’s launch.
While the majority of lab-grown diamonds on the market today are what’s known as melee (less than 0.18 carats), the tech for producing the biggest, most dazzling diamonds continues to improve. In 2016, lab-grown diamond company MiaDonna announced its partners had grown a 6.28 carat gem-quality diamond, claimed to be the largest created in the U.S. to that point. In 2017, a lab in Augsburg University, Germany that grows diamonds for industrial and scientific research applications produced what is thought to be the largest lab-grown diamond ever—a 155 carat behemoth that stretches nearly 4 inches across. Not gem quality, perhaps, but still impressive.
“If you compare it with the Queen’s diamond, hers is four times heavier, it’s clearer” physicist Matthias Schreck, who leads the group that grew that beast of a jewel, told me. “But in area, our diamond is bigger. We were very proud of this.”
Diamonds can be created in one of two ways: Similar to how they form inside the Earth, or similar to how scientists speculate they might form in outer space.
The older, Earth-inspired method is known as “high temperature high pressure” (HPHT), and that’s exactly what it sounds like. A carbon source, like graphite, is placed in a giant, mechanical press where, in the presence of a catalyst, it’s subjected to temperatures of around 1,600 degrees Celsius and pressures of 5-6 Gigapascals in order to form diamond. (If you’re curious what that sort of pressure feels like, the GIA describes it as similar to the force exerted if you tried to balance a commercial jet on your fingertip.)
The newer method, called chemical vapor deposition (CVD), is more akin to how diamonds might form in interstellar gas clouds (for which we have indirect, spectroscopic evidence, according to Shigley). A hydrocarbon gas, like methane, is pumped into a low-pressure reactor vessel alongside hydrogen. While maintaining near-vacuum conditions, the gases are heated very hot—typically 3,000 to 4,000 degrees Celsius, according to Lightbox CEO Steve Coe—causing carbon atoms to break free of their molecular bonds. Under the right conditions, those liberated bits of carbon will settle out onto a substrate—typically a flat, square plate of a synthetic diamond produced with the HPHT method—forming layer upon layer of diamond.
“It’s like snow falling on a table on your back porch,” Jason Payne, the founder and CEO of lab-grown diamond jewelry company Ada Diamonds, told me.
Scientists have been forging gem-quality diamonds with HPHT for longer, but today, CVD has become the method of choice for those selling larger bridal stones. That’s in part because it’s easier to control impurities and make diamonds with very high clarity, according to Coe. Still, each method has its advantages—Payne said that HPHT is faster and the diamonds typically have better color (which is to say, less of it)—and some companies, like Ada, purchase stones grown in both ways.
However they’re made, lab-grown diamonds have the same exceptional hardness, stiffness, and thermal conductivity as their Earth-mined counterparts. Cut, they can dazzle with the same brilliance and fire—a technical term to describe how well the diamond scatters light like a prism. The GIA even grades them according to the same 4Cs—cut, clarity, color, and carat—that gemologists use to assess diamonds formed in the Earth, although it uses a slightly different terminology to report the color and clarity grades for lab-grown stones.
They’re so similar, in fact, that lab-grown diamond entering the larger diamond supply without any disclosures has become a major concern across the jewelry industry, particularly when it comes to melee stones from Asia. It’s something major retailers are now investing thousands of dollars in sophisticated detection equipment to suss out by searching for minute differences in, say, their crystal shape or for impurities like nitrogen (much less common in lab-grown diamond, according to Shigley).
Those differences may be a lifeline for retailers hoping to weed out lab-grown diamonds, but for companies focused on them, they can become another selling point. The lack of nitrogen in diamonds produced with the CVD method, for instance, gives them an exceptional chemical purity that allows them to be classified as type IIa; a rare and coveted breed that accounts for just 2 percent of those found in nature. Meanwhile, the ability to control everything about the growth process allows companies like Lightbox to adjust the formula and produce incredibly rare blue and pink diamonds as part of their standard product line. (In fact, these colored gemstones have made up over half of the company’s sales since launch, according to Coe.)
And while lab-grown diamonds boast the same sparkle as their Earthly counterparts, they do so at a significant discount. Zimnisky said that today, your typical one carat, medium quality diamond grown in a lab will sell for about $3,600, compared with $6,100 for its Earth-mined counterpart—a discount of about 40 percent. Two years ago, that discount was only 18 percent. And while the price drop has “slightly tapered off” as Zimnisky put it, he expects it will fall further thanks in part to the aforementioned ramp up in Chinese production, as well as technological improvements. (The market is also shifting in response to Lightbox, which De Beers is using to position lab-grown diamonds as mass produced items for fashion jewelry, and which is selling its stones, ungraded, at the controversial low price of $800 per carat—a discount of nearly 90 percent.)
Zimnisky said that if the price falls too fast, it could devalue lab-grown diamonds in the eyes of consumers. But for now, at least, paying less seems to be a selling point. A 2018 consumer research survey by MVI Marketing found that most of those polled would choose a larger lab-grown diamond over a smaller mined diamond of the same price.
“The thing [consumers] seem most compelled by is the ability to trade up in size and quality at the same price,” Garard of IGDA said.
Still, for buyers and sellers alike, price is only part of the story. Many in the lab-grown diamond world market their product as an ethical or eco-friendly alternative to mined diamonds.
But those sales pitches aren’t without controversy.
A variety of lab-grown diamond products arrayed on a desk at Ada Diamonds showroom in Manhattan. The stone in the upper left gets its blue color from boron. Diamonds tinted yellow (top center) usually get their color from small amounts of nitrogen.
Photo: Sam Cannon (Earther)
Dazzling promises
As Anna-Mieke Anderson tells it, she didn’t enter the diamond world to become a corporate tycoon. She did it to try and fix a mistake.
In 1999, Anderson purchased herself a diamond. Some years later, in 2005, her father asked her where it came from. Nonplussed, she told him it came from the jewelry store. But that wasn’t what he was asking: He wanted to know where it really came from.
“I actually had no idea,” Anderson told Earther. “That led me to do a mountain of research.”
That research eventually led Anderson to conclude that she had likely bought a diamond mined under horrific conditions. She couldn’t be sure, because the certificate of purchase included no place of origin. But around the time of her purchase, civil wars funded by diamond mining were raging across Angola, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia, fueling “widespread devastation” as Global Witness put it in 2006. At the height of the diamond wars in the late ‘90s, the watchdog group estimates that as many as 15 percent of diamonds entering the market were conflict diamonds. Even those that weren’t actively fueling a war were often being mined in dirty, hazardous conditions; sometimes by children.
“I couldn’t believe I’d bought into this,” Anderson said.
To try and set things right, Anderson began sponsoring a boy living in a Liberian community impacted by the blood diamond trade. The experience was so eye-opening, she says, that she eventually felt compelled to sponsor more children. Selling conflict-free jewelry seemed like a fitting way to raise money to do so, but after a great deal more research, Anderson decided she couldn’t in good faith consider any diamond pulled from the Earth to be truly conflict-free in either the humanitarian or environmental sense. While diamond miners were, by the early 2000s, getting their gems certified “conflict free” according to the UN-backed Kimberley Process, the certification scheme’s definition of a conflict diamond—one sold by rebel groups to finance armed conflicts against governments—felt far too narrow.
“That [conflict definition] eliminates anything to do with the environment, or eliminates a child mining it, or someone who was a slave, or beaten, or raped,” Anderson said.
And so she started looking into science, and in 2007, launching MiaDonna as one of the world’s first lab-grown diamond jewelry companies. The business has been activism-oriented from the get-go, with at least five percent of its annual earnings—and more than 20 percent for the last three years—going into The Greener Diamond, Anderson’s charity foundation which has funded a wide range of projects, from training former child soldiers in Sierra Leone to grow food to sponsoring kids orphaned by the West African Ebola outbreak.
MiaDonna isn’t the only company that positions itself as an ethical alternative to the traditional diamond industry. Brilliant Earth, which sells what it says are carefully-sourced mined and lab-created diamonds, also donates a small portion of its profits to supporting mining communities. Other lab-grown diamond companies market themselves as “ethical,” “conflict-free,” or “world positive.” Payne of Ada Diamonds sees, in lab-grown diamonds, not just shiny baubles, but a potential to improve medicine, clean up pollution, and advance society in countless other ways—and he thinks the growing interest in lab-grown diamond jewelry will help propel us toward that future.
Others, however, say black-and-white characterizations when it comes to social impact of mined diamonds versus lab-grown stones are unfair. “I have a real problem with people claiming one is ethical and another is not,” Estelle Levin-Nally, founder and CEO of Levin Sources, which advocates for better governance in the mining sector, told Earther. “I think it’s always about your politics. And ethics are subjective.”
Saleem Ali, an environmental researcher at the University of Delaware who serves on the board of the Diamonds and Development Initiative, agrees. He says the mining industry has, on the whole, worked hard to turn itself around since the height of the diamond wars and that governance is “much better today” than it used to be. Human rights watchdog Global Witness also says that “significant progress” has been made to curb the conflict diamond trade, although as Alice Harle, Senior Campaigner with Global Witness told Earther via email, diamonds do still fuel conflict, particularly in the Central African Republic and Zimbabwe.
Most industry observers seems to agree that the Kimberley Process is outdated and inadequate, and that more work is needed to stamp out other abuses, including child labor and forced labor, in the artisanal and small-scale diamond mining sector. Today, large-scale mining operations don’t tend to see these kinds of problems, according to Julianne Kippenberg, associate director for children’s rights at Human Rights Watch, but she notes that there may be other community impacts surrounding land rights and forced resettlement.
The flip side, Ali and Levin-Nally say, is that well-regulated mining operations can be an important source of economic development and livelihood. Ali cites Botswana and Russia as prime examples of places where large-scale mining operations have become “major contributors to the economy.” Dmitry Amelkin, head of strategic projects and analytics for Russian diamond mining giant Alrosa, echoed that sentiment in an email to Earther, noting that diamonds transformed Botswana “from one of the poorest [countries] in the world to a middle-income country” with revenues from mining representing almost a third of its GDP.
In May, a report commissioned by the Diamond Producers Association (DPA), a trade organization representing the world’s largest diamond mining companies, estimated that worldwide, its members generate nearly $4 billion in direct revenue for employees and contractors, along with another $6.8 billion in benefits via “local procurement of goods and services.” DPA CEO Jean-Marc Lieberherr said this was a story diamond miners need to do a better job telling.
“The industry has undergone such changes since the Blood Diamond movie,” he said, referring to the blockbuster 2006 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio that drew global attention to the problem of conflict diamonds. “And yet people’s’ perceptions haven’t evolved. I think the main reason is we have not had a voice, we haven’t communicated.”
But conflict and human rights abuses aren’t the only issues that have plagued the diamond industry. There’s also the lasting environmental impact of the mining itself. In the case of large-scale commercial mines, this typically entails using heavy machinery and explosives to bore deep into those kimberlite tubes in search of precious stones.
Some, like Maya Koplyova, a geologist at the University of British Columbia who studies diamonds and the rocks they’re found in, see this as far better than many other forms of mining. “The environmental footprint is the fThere’s also the question of just how representative the report’s energy consumption estimates for lab-grown diamonds are. While he wouldn’t offer a specific number, Coe said that De Beers’ Group diamond manufacturer Element Six—arguably the most advanced laboratory-grown diamond company in the world—has “substantially lower” per carat energy requirements than the headline figures found inside the new report. When asked why this was not included, Rick Lord, ESG analyst at Trucost, the S&P global group that conducted the analysis, said it chose to focus on energy estimates in the public record, but that after private consultation with Element Six it did not believe their data would “materially alter” the emissions estimates in the study.
Finally, it’s important to consider the source of the carbon emissions. While the new report states that about 40 percent of the emissions associated with mining a diamond come from fossil fuel-powered vehicles and equipment, emissions associated with growing a diamond come mainly from electric power. Today, about 68 percent of lab-grown diamonds hail from China, Singapore, and India combined according to Zimnisky, where the power is drawn from largely fossil fuel-powered grids. But there is, at least, an opportunity to switch to renewables and drive that carbon footprint way down.
“The reality is both mining and manufacturing consume energy and probably the best thing we could do is focus on reducing energy consumption.”
And some companies do seem to be trying to do that. Anderson of MiaDonna says the company only sources its diamonds from facilities in the U.S., and that it’s increasingly trying to work with producers that use renewable energy. Lab-grown diamond company Diamond Foundry grows its stones inside plasma reactors running “as hot as the outer layer of the sun,” per its website, and while it wouldn’t offer any specific numbers, that presumably uses more energy than your typical operation running at lower temperatures. However, company spokesperson Ye-Hui Goldenson said its Washington State ‘megacarat factory’ was cited near a well-maintained hydropower source so that the diamonds could be produced with renewable energy. The company offsets other fossil fuel-driven parts of its operation by purchasing carbon credits.
Lightbox’s diamonds currently come from Element Six’s UK-based facilities. The company is, however, building a $94-million facility near Portland, Oregon, that’s expected to come online by 2020. Coe said he estimates about 45 percent of its power will come from renewable sources.
“The reality is both mining and manufacturing consume energy and probably the best thing we could do is focus on reducing energy consumption,” Coe said. “That’s something we’re focused on in Lightbox.”
In spite of that, Lightbox is somewhat notable among lab-grown diamond jewelry brands in that, in the words of Morrison, it is “not claiming this to be an eco-friendly product.”
“While it is true that we don’t dig holes in the ground, the energy consumption is not insignificant,” Morrison told Earther. “And I think we felt very uncomfortable promoting on that.”
Various diamonds created in a lab, as seen at the Ada Diamonds showroom in Manhattan.
Photo: Sam Cannon (Earther)
The real real
The fight over how lab-grown diamonds can and should market themselves is still heating up.
On March 26, the FTC sent letters to eight lab-grown and diamond simulant companies warning them against making unsubstantiated assertions about the environmental benefits of their products—its first real enforcement action after updating its jewelry guides last year. The letters, first obtained by JCK news director Rob Bates under a Freedom of Information Act request, also warned companies that their advertising could falsely imply the products are mined diamonds, illustrating that, even though the agency now says a lab-grown diamond is a diamond, the specific origin remains critically important. A letter to Diamond Foundry, for instance, notes that the company has at times advertised its stones as “above-ground real” without the qualification of “laboratory-made.” It’s easy to see how a consumer might miss the implication.
But in a sense, that’s what all of this is: A fight over what’s real.
“It’s a nuanced reality that we’re in. They are a type of diamond.”
Another letter, sent to FTC attorney Reenah Kim by the nonprofit trade organization Jewelers Vigilance Committee on April 2, makes it clear that many in the industry still believe that’s a term that should be reserved exclusively for gems formed inside the Earth. The letter, obtained by Earther under FOIA, urges the agency to continue restricting the use of the terms “real,” “genuine,” “natural,” “precious,” and “semi-precious” to Earth-mined diamonds and gemstones. Even the use of such terms in conjunction with “laboratory grown,” the letter argues, “will create even more confusion in an already confused and evolving marketplace.”
JVC President Tiffany Stevens told Earther that the letter was a response to a footnote in an explanatory document about the FTC’s recent jewelry guide changes, which suggested the agency was considering removing a clause about real, precious, natural and genuine only being acceptable modifiers for gems mined from the Earth.
“We felt that given the current commercial environment, that we didn’t think it was a good time to take that next step,” Stevens told Earther. As Stevens put it, the changes the FTC recently made, including expanding the definition of diamond and tweaking the descriptors companies can use to label laboratory-grown diamonds as such, have already been “wildly misinterpreted” by some lab-grown diamond sellers that are no longer making the “necessary disclosures.”
Asked whether the JVC thinks lab-grown diamonds are, in fact, real diamonds, Stevens demurred.
“It’s a nuanced reality that we’re in,” she said. “They are a type of diamond.”
Change is afoot in the diamond world. Mined diamond production may have already peaked, according to the 2018 Bain & Company report. Lab diamonds are here to stay, although where they’re going isn’t entirely clear. Zimnisky expects that in a few years—as Lightbox’s new facility comes online and mass production of lab diamonds continues to ramp up overseas—the price industry-wide will fall to about 80 percent less than a mined diamond. At that point, he wonders whether lab-grown diamonds will start to lose their sparkle.
Payne isn’t too worried about a price slide, which he says is happening across the diamond industry and which he expects will be “linear, not exponential” on the lab-grown side. He points out that lab-grown diamond market is still limited by supply, and that the largest lab-grown gems remain quite rare. Payne and Zimnisky both see the lab-grown diamond market bifurcating into cheaper, mass-produced gems and premium-quality stones sold by those that can maintain a strong brand. A sense that they’re selling something authentic and, well, real.
“So much has to do with consumer psychology,” Zimnisky said.
Some will only ever see diamonds as authentic if they formed inside the Earth. They’re drawn, as Kathryn Money, vice president of strategy and merchandising at Brilliant Earth put it, to “the history and romanticism” of diamonds; to a feeling that’s sparked by holding a piece of our ancient world. To an essence more than a function.
Others, like Anderson, see lab-grown diamonds as the natural (to use a loaded word) evolution of diamond. “We’re actually running out of [mined] diamonds,” she said. “There is an end in sight.” Payne agreed, describing what he sees as a “looming death spiral” for diamond mining.
Mined diamonds will never go away. We’ve been digging them up since antiquity, and they never seem to lose their sparkle. But most major mines are being exhausted. And with technology making it easier to grow diamonds just as they are getting more difficult to extract from the Earth, the lab-grown diamond industry’s grandstanding about its future doesn’t feel entirely unreasonable.
There’s a reason why, as Payne said, “the mining industry as a whole is still quite scared of this product.” ootprint of digging the hole in the ground and crushing [the rock],” Koplyova said, noting that there’s no need to add strong acids or heavy metals like arsenic (used in gold mining) to liberate the gems.
Still, those holes can be enormous. The Mir Mine, a now-abandoned open pit mine in Eastern Siberia, is so large—reportedly stretching 3,900 feet across and 1,700 feet deep—that the Russian government has declared it a no-fly zone owing to the pit’s ability to create dangerous air currents. It’s visible from space.
While companies will often rehabilitate other land to offset the impact of mines, kimberlite mining itself typically leaves “a permanent dent in the earth’s surface,” as a 2014 report by market research company Frost & Sullivan put it.
“It’s a huge impact as far as I’m concerned,” said Kevin Krajick, senior editor for science news at Columbia University’s Earth Institute who wrote a book on the discovery of diamonds in far northern Canada. Krajick noted that in remote mines, like those of the far north, it’s not just the physical hole to consider, but all the development required to reach a previously-untouched area, including roads and airstrips, roaring jets and diesel-powered trucks.
Diamonds grown in factories clearly have a smaller physical footprint. According to the Frost & Sullivan report, they also use less water and create less waste. It’s for these reasons that Ali thinks diamond mining “will never be able to compete” with lab-grown diamonds from an environmental perspective.
“The mining industry should not even by trying to do that,” he said.
Of course, this is capitalism, so try to compete is exactly what the DPA is now doing. That same recent report that touted the mining industry’s economic benefits also asserts that mined diamonds have a carbon footprint three times lower than that of lab-grown diamonds, on average. The numbers behind that conclusion, however, don’t tell the full story.
Growing diamonds does take considerable energy. The exact amount can vary greatly, however, depending on the specific nature of the growth process. These are details manufacturers are typically loathe to disclose, but Payne of Ada Diamonds says he estimates the most efficient players in the game today use about 250 kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity per cut, polished carat of diamond; roughly what a U.S. household consumes in 9 days. Other estimates run higher. Citing unnamed sources, industry publication JCK Online reported that a modern HPHT run can use up to 700 kWh per carat, while CVD production can clock in north of 1,000 kWh per carat.
Pulling these and several other public-record estimates, along with information on where in the world today’s lab diamonds are being grown and the energy mix powering the producer nations’ electric grids, the DPA-commissioned study estimated that your typical lab-grown diamond results in some 511 kg of carbon emissions per cut, polished carat. Using information provided by mining companies on fuel and electricity consumption, along with other greenhouse gas sources on the mine site, it found that the average mined carat was responsible for just 160 kg of carbon emissions.
One limitation here is that the carbon footprint estimate for mining focused only on diamond production, not the years of work entailed in developing a mine. As Ali noted, developing a mine can take a lot of energy, particularly for those sited in remote locales where equipment needs to be hauled long distances by trucks or aircraft.
There’s also the question of just how representative the report’s energy consumption estimates for lab-grown diamonds are. While he wouldn’t offer a specific number, Coe said that De Beers’ Group diamond manufacturer Element Six—arguably the most advanced laboratory-grown diamond company in the world—has “substantially lower” per carat energy requirements than the headline figures found inside the new report. When asked why this was not included, Rick Lord, ESG analyst at Trucost, the S&P global group that conducted the analysis, said it chose to focus on energy estimates in the public record, but that after private consultation with Element Six it did not believe their data would “materially alter” the emissions estimates in the study.
Finally, it’s important to consider the source of the carbon emissions. While the new report states that about 40 percent of the emissions associated with mining a diamond come from fossil fuel-powered vehicles and equipment, emissions associated with growing a diamond come mainly from electric power. Today, about 68 percent of lab-grown diamonds hail from China, Singapore, and India combined according to Zimnisky, where the power is drawn from largely fossil fuel-powered grids. But there is, at least, an opportunity to switch to renewables and drive that carbon footprint way down.
“The reality is both mining and manufacturing consume energy and probably the best thing we could do is focus on reducing energy consumption.”
And some companies do seem to be trying to do that. Anderson of MiaDonna says the company only sources its diamonds from facilities in the U.S., and that it’s increasingly trying to work with producers that use renewable energy. Lab-grown diamond company Diamond Foundry grows its stones inside plasma reactors running “as hot as the outer layer of the sun,” per its website, and while it wouldn’t offer any specific numbers, that presumably uses more energy than your typical operation running at lower temperatures. However, company spokesperson Ye-Hui Goldenson said its Washington State ‘megacarat factory’ was cited near a well-maintained hydropower source so that the diamonds could be produced with renewable energy. The company offsets other fossil fuel-driven parts of its operation by purchasing carbon credits.
Lightbox’s diamonds currently come from Element Six’s UK-based facilities. The company is, however, building a $94-million facility near Portland, Oregon, that’s expected to come online by 2020. Coe said he estimates about 45 percent of its power will come from renewable sources.
“The reality is both mining and manufacturing consume energy and probably the best thing we could do is focus on reducing energy consumption,” Coe said. “That’s something we’re focused on in Lightbox.”
In spite of that, Lightbox is somewhat notable among lab-grown diamond jewelry brands in that, in the words of Morrison, it is “not claiming this to be an eco-friendly product.”
“While it is true that we don’t dig holes in the ground, the energy consumption is not insignificant,” Morrison told Earther. “And I think we felt very uncomfortable promoting on that.”
Various diamonds created in a lab, as seen at the Ada Diamonds showroom in Manhattan.
Photo: Sam Cannon (Earther)
The real real
The fight over how lab-grown diamonds can and should market themselves is still heating up.
On March 26, the FTC sent letters to eight lab-grown and diamond simulant companies warning them against making unsubstantiated assertions about the environmental benefits of their products—its first real enforcement action after updating its jewelry guides last year. The letters, first obtained by JCK news director Rob Bates under a Freedom of Information Act request, also warned companies that their advertising could falsely imply the products are mined diamonds, illustrating that, even though the agency now says a lab-grown diamond is a diamond, the specific origin remains critically important. A letter to Diamond Foundry, for instance, notes that the company has at times advertised its stones as “above-ground real” without the qualification of “laboratory-made.” It’s easy to see how a consumer might miss the implication.
But in a sense, that’s what all of this is: A fight over what’s real.
“It’s a nuanced reality that we’re in. They are a type of diamond.”
Another letter, sent to FTC attorney Reenah Kim by the nonprofit trade organization Jewelers Vigilance Committee on April 2, makes it clear that many in the industry still believe that’s a term that should be reserved exclusively for gems formed inside the Earth. The letter, obtained by Earther under FOIA, urges the agency to continue restricting the use of the terms “real,” “genuine,” “natural,” “precious,” and “semi-precious” to Earth-mined diamonds and gemstones. Even the use of such terms in conjunction with “laboratory grown,” the letter argues, “will create even more confusion in an already confused and evolving marketplace.”
JVC President Tiffany Stevens told Earther that the letter was a response to a footnote in an explanatory document about the FTC’s recent jewelry guide changes, which suggested the agency was considering removing a clause about real, precious, natural and genuine only being acceptable modifiers for gems mined from the Earth.
“We felt that given the current commercial environment, that we didn’t think it was a good time to take that next step,” Stevens told Earther. As Stevens put it, the changes the FTC recently made, including expanding the definition of diamond and tweaking the descriptors companies can use to label laboratory-grown diamonds as such, have already been “wildly misinterpreted” by some lab-grown diamond sellers that are no longer making the “necessary disclosures.”
Asked whether the JVC thinks lab-grown diamonds are, in fact, real diamonds, Stevens demurred.
“It’s a nuanced reality that we’re in,” she said. “They are a type of diamond.”
Change is afoot in the diamond world. Mined diamond production may have already peaked, according to the 2018 Bain & Company report. Lab diamonds are here to stay, although where they’re going isn’t entirely clear. Zimnisky expects that in a few years—as Lightbox’s new facility comes online and mass production of lab diamonds continues to ramp up overseas—the price industry-wide will fall to about 80 percent less than a mined diamond. At that point, he wonders whether lab-grown diamonds will start to lose their sparkle.
Payne isn’t too worried about a price slide, which he says is happening across the diamond industry and which he expects will be “linear, not exponential” on the lab-grown side. He points out that lab-grown diamond market is still limited by supply, and that the largest lab-grown gems remain quite rare. Payne and Zimnisky both see the lab-grown diamond market bifurcating into cheaper, mass-produced gems and premium-quality stones sold by those that can maintain a strong brand. A sense that they’re selling something authentic and, well, real.
“So much has to do with consumer psychology,” Zimnisky said.
Some will only ever see diamonds as authentic if they formed inside the Earth. They’re drawn, as Kathryn Money, vice president of strategy and merchandising at Brilliant Earth put it, to “the history and romanticism” of diamonds; to a feeling that’s sparked by holding a piece of our ancient world. To an essence more than a function.
Others, like Anderson, see lab-grown diamonds as the natural (to use a loaded word) evolution of diamond. “We’re actually running out of [mined] diamonds,” she said. “There is an end in sight.” Payne agreed, describing what he sees as a “looming death spiral” for diamond mining.
Mined diamonds will never go away. We’ve been digging them up since antiquity, and they never seem to lose their sparkle. But most major mines are being exhausted. And with technology making it easier to grow diamonds just as they are getting more difficult to extract from the Earth, the lab-grown diamond industry’s grandstanding about its future doesn’t feel entirely unreasonable.
There’s a reason why, as Payne said, “the mining industry as a whole is still quite scared of this product.”
]]>Eh bien, recyclez maintenant ! | Grégoire Chamayou
►https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2019/02/CHAMAYOU/59563
Poubelle jaune, poubelle verte, poubelle bleue… À grand renfort de sermons, on nous chante les louanges d’une « citoyenneté moderne » associée à un geste : le tri des déchets, considéré comme la garantie de sauver une planète dégradée de toutes parts. C’est peut-être se méprendre sur la logique qui sous-tend cette injonction à l’« écoresponsabilité » des consommateurs. Source : Le Monde diplomatique
]]>Encore une belle victoire des antivax sur un enfant de 6 ans
Après 8 semaines d’hospitalisation, le tube de trachéotomie est retiré. Le jeune patient est transféré trois jours plus tard dans un centre de rééducation pour une durée d’environ trois semaines. Au total, l’enfant a été hospitalisé pendant 57 jours, dont 47 en unité de soins intensifs, précisent les médecins du département de pédiatrie de faculté de médecine de Portland (Oregon).
►http://realitesbiomedicales.blog.lemonde.fr/2019/03/10/un-cas-emblematique-de-tetanos-chez-un-enfant-non-
]]>The Oregon Trail (1959) [WEBRip] [720p] [YTS.AM]
▻https://yts.am/movie/the-oregon-trail-1959#720p
IMDB Rating: 5.1/10Genre: WesternSize: 710.3 MBRuntime: 1hr 26 minIn 1846, a reporter for the New York Herald joins a wagon train bound for the Oregon Territory. He hopes to confirm a rumor that President Polk is sending in soldiers disguised as settlers in order to strengthen American claims to the Territory.
▻https://yts.am/torrent/download/9CDE5C5EFEB43BFE101F5428580BCBAB8B8C6E05
]]>Oregon : des otaries euthanasiées pour sauver une espèce de truite
▻http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2019/01/11/97001-20190111FILWWW00376-oregon-des-otaries-euthanasiees-pour-sauver-une-e
Les autorités de l’Oregon ont commencé à euthanasier des otaries dont la gourmandise menace d’extinction une espèce de truite dans une rivière de cet Etat du nord-ouest des Etats-Unis.
Les otaries de Californie (Zalophus californianus) vivent d’ordinaire sur la côte, à plusieurs dizaines de kilomètres de Willamette Falls, au sud de Portland. Mais en remontant le cours d’eau à la poursuite des poissons dont elles raffolent, certaines d’entre elles se sont aperçues qu’elles pouvaient facilement se repaître des truites arc-en-ciel (Oncorhynchus mykiss) qui se rassemblent près de ces chutes d’eau. Selon des biologistes marins, les otaries se sont littéralement passé le mot et menacent à présent la survie de ces truites, qui parviennent à l’âge adulte dans l’océan Pacifique, mais reviennent pondre sur le lieu de leur naissance, comme les saumons. « Depuis les années 1990, les otaries ont consommé des dizaines de milliers de poissons migrateurs, dont beaucoup appartiennent à des espèces menacées et protégées au niveau fédéral », explique sur son site le Département de la faune sauvage et de la pêche de l’Oregon. Certains hivers, seules quelques centaines de truites arc-en-ciel sauvages survivent à Willamette Falls, ce qui menace à terme la survie de l’espèce.
Barrières, cartouches explosives pour les effrayer, relocalisation par camion sur les plages du Pacifique : aucune des mesures mises en oeuvre par les autorités locales n’ont réussi à tenir à l’écart du site les otaries, qui ne mettaient généralement pas plus de quelques jours pour y revenir. L’Oregon a donc demandé à l’Etat fédéral l’autorisation d’euthanasier les fauteurs de trouble, ce qui lui a été accordé en décembre. L’élimination des otaries de Willamette Falls est toutefois très encadrée, car elles appartiennent elles-mêmes à une espèce protégée, qui avait failli disparaître en raison de la chasse. Sa population approche désormais les 300.000 individus sur la côte ouest des Etats-Unis. L’Oregon a été autorisé à euthanasier jusqu’à 93 otaries par an à Willamette Falls, mais selon Bryan Wright, responsable du Département de la faune sauvage cité par la télévision publique de l’Etat, seules une quarantaine d’entre elles devraient être éliminées d’ici le mois de mai.
]]>#Netflix finishes its massive migration to the Amazon cloud | Ars Technica (article de février 2016)
▻https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/02/netflix-finishes-its-massive-migration-to-the-amazon-cloud
Netflix declined to say how much it pays Amazon, but says it expects to “spend over $800 million on technology and development in 2016,” up from $651 million in 2015. Netflix spends less on technology than it does on marketing, according to its latest earnings report.
Netflix’s Simian Army
The big question on your mind might be this: What happens if the #Amazon cloud fails?
That’s one reason it took Netflix seven years to make the shift to Amazon. Instead of moving existing systems intact to the cloud, Netflix rebuilt nearly all of its software to take advantage of a cloud network that “allows one to build highly reliable services out of fundamentally unreliable but redundant components,” the company says. To minimize the risk of disruption, Netflix has built a series of tools with names like “Chaos Monkey,” which randomly takes virtual machines offline to make sure Netflix can survive failures without harming customers. Netflix’s “Simian Army” ramped up with Chaos Gorilla (which disables an entire Amazon availability zone) and Chaos Kong (which simulates an outage affecting an entire Amazon region and shifts workloads to other regions).
Amazon’s cloud network is spread across 12 regions worldwide, each of which has availability zones consisting of one or more data centers. Netflix operates primarily in the Northern Virginia, Oregon, and Dublin regions, but if an entire region goes down, “we can instantaneously redirect the traffic to the other available ones,” Izrailevsky said. “It’s not that uncommon for us to fail over across regions for various reasons.”
Years ago, Netflix wasn’t able to do that, and the company suffered a streaming failure on Christmas Eve in 2012, when it was operating in just one Amazon region. “We’ve invested a lot of effort in disaster recovery and making sure no matter how big a failure that we’re able to bring things back from backups,” he said.
Netflix has multiple backups of all data within Amazon.
“Customer data or production data of any sort, we put it in distributed databases such as Cassandra, where each data element is replicated multiple times in production, and then we generate primary backups of all the data into S3 [Amazon’s Simple Storage Service],” he said. “All the logical errors, operator errors, or software bugs, many kinds of corruptions—we would be able to deal with them just from those S3 backups.”
What if all of Netflix’s systems in Amazon went down? Netflix keeps backups of everything in Google Cloud Storage in case of a natural disaster, a self-inflicted failure that somehow takes all of Netflix’s systems down, or a “catastrophic security breach that might affect our entire AWS deployment,” Izrailevsky said. “We’ve never seen a situation like this and we hope we never will.”
But Netflix would be ready in part thanks to a system it calls “Armageddon Monkey,” which simulates failure of all of Netflix’s systems on Amazon. It could take hours or even a few days to recover from an Amazon-wide failure, but Netflix says it can do it. Netflix pointed out that Amazon isolates its regions from each other, making it difficult for all of them to go out simultaneously.
“So that’s not the scenario we’re planning for. Rather it’s a catastrophic bug or data corruption that would cause us to wipe the slate clean and start fresh from the latest good back-up,” a Netflix spokesperson said. “We hope we will never need to rely on Armageddon Monkey in real life, but going through the drill helps us ensure we back up all of our production data, manage dependencies properly, and have a clean, modular architecture; all this puts us in a better position to deal with smaller outages as well.”
Netflix declined to say where it would operate its systems during an emergency that forced it to move off Amazon. “From a security perspective, it’d be better not to say,” a spokesperson said.
Netflix has released a lot of its software as open source, saying it prefers to collaborate with other companies than keep secret the methods for making cloud networks more reliable. “While of course cloud is important for us, we’re not very protective of the technology and the best practices, we really hope to build the community,” Izrailevsky said.
]]>Du viol à la prison en passant par la prostitution : COUPABLES D’ETRE VICTIMES | Entre les lignes entre les mots
►https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.blog/2018/11/22/du-viol-a-la-prison-en-passant-par-la-prostitution-coup
Une des tendances que nous avons trouvées à Washington, c’est que, alors que les arrestations de garçons ont diminué durant la dernière décennie, les arrestations de filles ont augmenté de 87%. Nous avons trouvé aussi que les filles étaient arrêtées et entraient dans le système carcéral bien plus jeunes que les garçons, et surtout pour des délits beaucoup moins graves, comme de s’être enfuies de chez elles, ou de manquer l’école. Souvent, la police et le système légal ont une attitude sexiste envers les filles et se comportent avec elles de façon paternaliste. Par exemple, notre système considère comme normal que les garçons se battent à l’école – mais si des filles se battent, alors la police intervient beaucoup plus souvent. De plus, les forces de l’ordre et les juges justifient l’arrestation ou la détention des filles comme un moyen de les protéger et de les garder en sûreté, alors que nous savons que la détention entraîne en fait davantage de dommages et de traumas pour elles.
FS : Sur la base de ces données, vous notez aussi que les filles noires sont 30 fois plus souvent arrêtées par la police que les filles blanches et que les garçons. Pouvez-vous nous parler de ce biais raciste et comment il commence dès l’école ? Quels sont les délits pour lesquels ces filles sont le plus souvent arrêtées ? Ces infractions sont-elles des réponses à des traumas antérieurs ?
YV : Ces données viennent de notre rapport intitulé « Derrière les murs : un regard sur les filles dans le système de la justice des mineurs ». Ce que nous avons trouvé est que les filles noires sont criminalisées pour des comportements normaux pour des adolescentes et pour lesquels les adolescents blancs ne sont pas punis. La réalité est que cette combinaison de racisme et de sexisme a un impact déterminant sur l’entrée des filles noires dans le système judiciaire, et la façon dont elles y sont traitées. Des recherches ont montré que les filles noires sont vues par les adultes comme moins innocentes, ayant moins besoin de protection, et plus informées sur la sexualité que leurs camarades blancs du même âge. Malheureusement, ces attitudes racistes amènent souvent les filles noires à être traitées plus sévèrement que des adolescents qui commettent des actes similaires.
Nous savons aussi, suite à d’autres recherches, que la vaste majorité des filles en prison ont subi antérieurement des violences physiques et sexuelles. Quand vous considérez ces données, de pair avec les chefs d’accusation les plus fréquents contre elles, il devient clair que les filles, et en particulier les filles de couleur, sont criminalisées à cause des abus qu’elles ont subis. Nous appelons ça « le pipe-line des violences à la prison ». A l’échelon national, les délits les plus fréquents pour les filles sont le fait de fuguer, de manquer l’école (de ne pas y aller ou d’arriver en retard) – et la prostitution. Nous travaillons pour éduquer les forces de l’ordre et les juges pour qu’ils comprennent cette dynamique afin qu’ils puissent voir ces filles pour ce qu’elles sont, au-delà des délits qui leur sont reprochés, et leur offrir des services et du soutien, au lieu de les arrêter et de les emprisonner.
FS : Vous parlez d’un « pipe-line » qui mène directement ces filles des violences sexuelles qu’elles subissent à la prostitution, puis à la prison. Pouvez-vous expliquer plus précisément ce que ça signifie ? Vous citez ce chiffre : en Oregon, 93% des filles emprisonnées ont été victimes de violences sexuelles. Typiquement, comment une fille passe-t-elle des violences sexuelles à la prostitution ?
YV : Les violences sexuelles sont très répandues aux Etats-Unis, avec 1 fille sur 4 qui subit une forme de violence sexuelle avant l’âge de 18 ans. Cependant, à cause des barrières économiques et sociales, beaucoup des filles qui sont victimes de ces violences ne peuvent avoir accès aux services dont elles ont besoin pour se reconstruire. En conséquence, ces filles doivent prendre leur propre sécurité en main et trouver des mécanismes qui leur permettent de gérer le trauma qu’elles ont subi. Ces stratégies incluent le fait de fuguer pour échapper à la violence qu’elles vivent à la maison, et de se soigner avec des médicaments ou de l’alcool. Malheureusement, trop souvent, notre système punit ces filles qui utilisent ces méthodes bricolées d’auto-préservation et de résilience, et elles sont criminalisées pour s’être enfuies de chez elles, pour avoir consommé des drogues ou de l’alcool, et emprisonnées dans un système carcéral brutal où elles sont re-traumatisées et même parfois sont la cible de nouvelles violences. Nous savons qu’avoir subi des violences sexuelles est un facteur de risque et maximise l’exposition à l’exploitation sexuelle, et dans la plupart des états des Etats-Unis, des filles très jeunes sont arrêtées pour prostitution, même si elles sont légalement trop jeunes pour consentir à n’importe quelle activité sexuelle. C’est comme ça que les filles sont aspirées dans le pipe-line violences sexuelles/prison.
FS : Vous dites : « à Washington DC, les filles ne disparaissent pas, on les fait disparaître ». Pouvez-vous expliquer ?
YV : L’année dernière, à Washington DC, on a constaté un nombre alarmant de filles qui ont été signalées comme disparues dans leur communauté. Pratiquement, toutes ces adolescentes étaient noires ou latinos et toutes étaient très jeunes. Notre communauté a essayé de comprendre les facteurs qui ont causé cette augmentation des disparitions des filles de couleur et ce que nous avons trouvé est que beaucoup de ces filles ont été trafiquées, kidnappées, victimes de violences chez elles ou de négligences graves. Nous avons essayé de mettre en évidence que nos filles n’étaient pas simplement manquantes mais que notre société était complice de ce qui a causé leur disparition. Par exemple, en ne s’occupant pas de la demande des clients pour l’achat de sexe qui alimente le trafic prostitutionnel des filles de couleur dans notre ville, ce qui fait qu’on les kidnappe et qu’on les trafique pour satisfaire cette demande. Ne fournir aucune aide aux filles qui sont victimes d’agressions sexuelles chez elles signifie qu’elles sont obligées de se protéger en fuguant. C’est notre façon de dire que nous avons tous une responsabilité collective dans la protection de nos filles et que c’est notre devoir de promouvoir une culture qui les valorise et garantisse leur sécurité.
FS : Vous dites que « la réalité, c’est qu’il y a des hommes qui veulent acheter du sexe avec des enfants ». Pensez-vous que cette catégorie d’hommes est plus nombreuse que la plupart des gens le réalisent – et que le problème des enfants exploités et violés dans la prostitution est sous-estimé et négligé ?
YF : L’exploitation sexuelle des enfants est impulsée presque entièrement par la demande masculine. Nous pensons certainement que le nombre de ces hommes est plus élevé que les gens ne l’imaginent – même si cela ne concerne pas tous les hommes. Ici à Washington DC, nous connaissons des filles ou des garçons trafiqués qui n’ont que 10 ou 11 ans, et qui nous sont référés par les services sociaux de notre ville. Courtney’s House, un programme pour les enfants trafiqués dirigé par des survivant-es du trafic d’enfants, prend en charge des victimes de 11 à 24 ans. Presque tous les enfants concernés sont noirs et latinos, et il n’y a pas actuellement dans ce programme de survivant-es du trafic au-dessus de 14 ans. Alors, même si tous les hommes ne se comportent pas ainsi, la minorité d’hommes qui achètent du sexe avec des enfants cause des dommages considérables.
FS : Vous citez l’exemple de Latesha Clay, une jeune victime du trafic d’enfants. Deux acheteurs de sexe qui s’étaient rendus dans un hôtel pour avoir des rapports sexuels avec elle ont été braqués par ses proxénètes – et elle a été condamnée à 9 ans de prison pour ça. Cyntoia Brown, une autre jeune mineure victime de trafic, est incarcérée jusqu’à l’âge de 67 ans pour avoir tué le « client » qui avait payé pour avoir des rapports sexuels avec elle et qui la brutalisait. Pouvez-vous commenter sur ces affaires, et sur la façon dont le système judiciaire traite comme des criminelles ces jeunes victimes de violences masculines ?
YV : Les cas de Cyntoia Brown et de Latesha Clay sont tristement banals. Ces deux jeunes femmes sont des cas typiques du pipe-line qui mène les filles des abus sexuels qu’elles subissent à la prison. Toutes les deux ont été punies parce qu’elles étaient victimes au lieu d’être vues et traitées comme des survivantes de violences et d’exploitation sexuelle. Nous disons souvent que c’est ce que #metoo doit faire pour les filles pauvres aux Etats-Unis, parce qu’au lieu de reconnaître leur victimisation, notre système punit ces jeunes femmes et ne dénonce pas la responsabilité de leurs agresseurs. Cette injustice doit cesser. Nous devons reconnaître notre échec collectif à protéger des filles comme Cyntoia de l’exploitation sexuelle, et que c’est cette incapacité sociétale à les protéger qui les a forcées à prendre en main elles-mêmes leur sécurité et leur protection.
#racisme #sexisme #misogynoir #viol #prostitution #pedoviol #prison
]]>« Algorithmes, la bombe à retardement » : un cri d’alarme citoyen
▻https://usbeketrica.com/article/comment-les-algorithmes-fragilisent-les-plus-fragiles
L’Amérique des sans-abri. Par Chris Hedges
▻https://www.les-crises.fr/lamerique-des-sans-abri-par-chris-hedges
Source : Truthdig, Chris Hedges, 08-10-2018 8 octobre 2018 Par Chris Hedges PORTLAND, Oregon – Il est 8 heures du matin. Je suis dans les petits bureaux de Street Roots, un hebdomadaire qui imprime 10 000 exemplaires par édition. Ceux qui vendent le journal dans la rue, tous victimes de l’extrême pauvreté et la moitié […]
]]>U.S. eyes West Coast military bases to export coal, gas -report | Reuters
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-trump-coal/update-1-us-eyes-west-coast-military-bases-to-export-coal-gas-report-idUSL2
President Donald Trump’s administration is considering using West Coast military facilities to export coal and natural gas to Asia, according to an Associated Press report on Monday, citing U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
The move would help fossil fuel producers ship their products to Asia and circumvent environmental concerns in Democratic-leaning states like Washington, Oregon and California that have rejected efforts to build new coal ports.
In an interview in Montana, Zinke told AP “it’s in our interest for national security and our allies to make sure that they have access to affordable energy commodities” and proposed using naval facilities or other federal properties for exports.
Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, said the former Naval Air Facility Adak in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands could be used to export natural gas. He did not specify any others.
[…]
The idea drew praise from the U.S. coal industry, which is eager to overcome a dearth of export terminals on the U.S. West Coast. Currently, U.S. coal exported into the Pacific basin must go through Canada’s British Columbia.
]]>How a Ragtag Group of Oregon Locals Took On the Biggest Chemical Companies in World — and Won
▻https://theintercept.com/2018/09/15/oregon-pesticides-aerial-spray-ban
THE PEOPLE WHO wrote an ordinance banning the aerial spraying of pesticides in western Oregon last year aren’t professional environmental advocates. Their group, Lincoln County Community Rights, has no letterhead, business cards, or paid staff. Its handful of core members includes the owner of a small business that installs solar panels, a semi-retired Spanish translator, an organic farmer who raises llamas, and a self-described caretaker and Navajo-trained weaver.
]]>When did you start getting into computers and the internet?
▻https://hackernoon.com/when-did-you-start-getting-into-computers-and-the-internet-159cab7660ff?
via Where There’s Smooke There’s Fire: Interview With David Smooke Founder of Hacker Noon by Pirate Beachbum on Hacker Noon:“Oregon trail in the computer lab was among my early computer memories. When the first computer made it into my house I didn’t think it was a big deal. Floppy disks, meh. The breakthrough wasn’t the computer; the breakthrough was the internet. AIM & ICQ were game changers to the middle school social life. The introduction of instant textual interaction. Chatting it up. Away messages. Moving the power of words to the screen. Instant messaging laid the groundwork for “clarifying” the difference between 1:1 communication and 1:public communication.I remember joining a ‘gifted’ program where we picked stocks after school with fake money. Musta’ been about 13 or 14. That’s (...)
#netflix #oregon-trail #getting-into-computers #david-smooke #and-the-internet
]]>L’empreinte d’un ancien changement climatique abrupt trouvée dans l’Arctique.
Following the Fresh Water : Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
▻http://www.whoi.edu/news-release/following-the-fresh-water
(...)
Une équipe de recherche dirigée par l’Institut océanographique de Woods Hole (WHOI) a trouvé l’empreinte d’une inondation massive d’eau douce dans l’ouest de l’Arctique, qui serait la cause d’une vague de froid qui a commencé il y a environ 13 000 ans.
« Ce changement climatique brutal - connu sous le nom de Younger Dryas - a mis fin à plus de 1000 ans de réchauffement », explique Lloyd Keigwin, océanographe à WHOI et auteur principal du document(...).
La cause de [ce refroidissement] (...), est restée un mystère et une source de débat depuis des décennies.
De nombreux chercheurs croyaient que la source provenait d’un important afflux d’eau douce provenant des glaciers fondant dans l’Atlantique Nord, perturbant le système de circulation en eau profonde - AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Oversurning Circulation) - qui transporte les eaux plus chaudes et libère de la chaleur.
Cependant, la preuve géologique manquait.
En 2013, une équipe de chercheurs de l’Institut d’océanographie Scripps de l’Université de Californie à San Diego et de l’Oregon State University a entrepris de naviguer vers l’est de la mer de Beaufort à la recherche de l’inondation près du fleuve Mackenzie, formant la frontière entre les territoires du Yukon et du Nord-Ouest du Canada. À bord du Cutter Healy des gardes-côtes américains, l’équipe a recueilli des carottes de sédiments le long de la pente continentale à l’est du fleuve Mackenzie. Après avoir analysé les coquilles de plancton fossile trouvées dans les carottes de sédiments, ils ont trouvé le signal géochimique longtemps recherché du « déluge ».
#Paléolithique #climat #Woods_Hole_Oceanographic_Institution
#Keigwin #Klotsko #Zhao #Reilly #Giosan #Driscoll.
Deglacial floods in the Beaufort Sea preceded Younger Dryas cooling. Nature Geoscience, 2018 ;
DOI : 10.1038/s41561-018-0169-6
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/07/11/scientists-may-have-solved-huge-riddle-earths-climate-past-it-doesnt-bode-well-future/?noredirect=on
L’article du Washington Post montre une carte très intéressante des grands lacs nord américains pour cette période.
#Paléolithique #paysages #Amérique_du_Nord
Renters and Owners — Visualizing every person in the US.
▻https://hackernoon.com/renters-and-owners-visualizing-every-person-in-the-us-ba97d3c49c02?sourc
Mapbox and Tippecanoe for big census dataCheck out the finished map here!Housing policy is something I deal with a lot, and so I spend a lot of time trying to make sense of housing data. While thinking about the relationship of the rental housing market with home ownership (typically represented across time), I started to wonder what that relationship looks like geographically.Certainly there are parts of cities known for having lots of condos, or apartments, or single family homes; but I was curious what this looks like on the whole, and if larger structures could be discerned.This inquiry turned into its own formidable technical challenge, and resulted in a pretty interesting data-set; read on to find out more, and how I built it!Portland, Oregon renters/owners viewed as a (...)
#mapbox #renters-and-owners #urban-planning #data-science #data-visualization
]]>Calls to Abolish ICE Grow as Encampments Multiply Across United States
▻https://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/calls-to-abolish-ice-grow-as-encampments-multiply-across-usa
It was about 3:30 a.m. on the morning of Monday, June 25 when armed Federal Protective Service officers returned to the Portland, Oregon office for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE...
]]>Indigenous Women Have Been Disappearing for Generations. Politicians Are Finally Starting to Notice.
▻https://theintercept.com/2018/05/31/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women
Aux États-Unis comme au Canada
Women on the Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington state didn’t have any particular term for the way the violent deaths and sudden disappearances of their sisters, mothers, friends, and neighbors had become woven into everyday life.
“I didn’t know, like many, that there was a title, that there was a word for it,” said Roxanne White, who is Yakama and Nez Perce and grew up on the reservation. White has become a leader in the movement to address the disproportionate rates of homicide and missing persons cases among American Indian women, but the first time she heard the term “missing and murdered Indigenous women” was less than two years ago, at a Dakota Access pipeline resistance camp at Standing Rock. There, she met women who had traveled from Canada to speak about disappearances in First Nations to the north, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s administration launched a historic national inquiry into the issue in 2016.
]]>You know that silly fear about Alexa recording everything and leaking it online ? It just happened
▻http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/24/alexa_recording_couple
It’s time to break out your “Alexa, I Told You So” banners – because a Portland, Oregon, couple received a phone call from one of the husband’s employees earlier this month, telling them she had just received a recording of them talking privately in their home. “Unplug your Alexa devices right now,” the staffer told the couple, who did not wish to be fully identified, “you’re being hacked.” At first the couple thought it might be a hoax call. However, the employee – over a hundred miles away (...)
]]>Smartphones Are Killing The Planet Faster Than Anyone Expected
▻https://www.fastcodesign.com/90168628/the-airplane-saddle-is-a-standing-seat-for-super-economy-flight
There’s nothing inherently bad about the design of the Skyrider 2.0, a new compact seat that allows airlines to fit more passengers in less space with a hypothetical super-economy class. Engineered by Italian aerospace interior design company Aviointeriors and introduced at Hamburg’s Airplane Interiors Expo in earl April, the seat positions a willing passenger almost completely upright on a polyester saddle and back support. It seems well thought out, it’s reportedly very functional, and it even looks good. But I’ll still never sit on one.
The Skyrider 2.0 makes a lot of sense for airlines trying to squeeze as much value as they can from every pound of fuel and inch of cabin space. Decreasing seat space is an easy way to do so, and even major companies like Airbus have toyed with unconventional seat designs like this butt-destroying bike seat. The new saddle-style seat is a twist on the company’s previous high-capacity seat prototype, which came out in 2010 and was never installed by any airline–perhaps out of fear after the backlash Ryanair received for similar plans. This new version is an aesthetic improvement over the original (which looked like a squeezed version of a normal seat), but it seems to be more clever, as well: positioning a passenger almost upright, with a saddle and a foot panel to support part of their body weight, takes up only 23 inches of pitch (“the space between a point on one seat and the same point on the seat in front of it”).
[Photo: Avio Interiors]
Aviointeriors calls Skyrider 2.0 “the new frontier of low cost tickets and passenger experience” and claims that the design allows a 20% increase in passengers per flight. It also weighs 50% less than standard economy class seats–after all, it’s half the size–lowering the fuel cost per passenger. So it seems likely that such a design could lower the cost of travel for consumers–but at what price when it comes to the experience?
A reviewer at the travel review site The Points Guy tried one at the expo, spending 10 minutes in versions of the seat in both front and back rows. “The front row wasn’t bad, but at 5 foot 11 inch tall,” he says, “my knees were firmly planted against the seat back for the entire time in the rear row.” He claims that the saddle itself “didn’t seem to be bad.” The director general of Aviointeriors had an explanation for the saddle-style design decision back in 2010, pointing out to USA Today that, “cowboys ride eight hours on their horses during the day and still feel comfortable in the saddle.” True, though cowboys also enjoy total freedom of movement on a horse, and are not tightly sandwiched between other cowboys and their flatulence. Also, have you ever played The Oregon Trail? But I digress.
So how far are we from seeing the Skyrider 2.0 on real airplanes? Companies have been talking about these “high-capacity seats” for a while, but at this point, no airlines have announced plans to install this particular solution, though Aviointeriors says interest is “really strong.” If airlines truly believe that are willing to trade their suffering on an airborne inquisitorial torture device for a major airfare discount, it’s just a matter of time.
]]>Oregon passes its own net neutrality laws, but not for home users
▻https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-04-11-oregon-passes-its-own-net-neutrality-laws-but-not-for-home
“The internet has democratised knowledge and is an invaluable tool. It’s so important that it remains open and accessible”
]]>Large Containership Loses About 70 Containers Overboard Off U.S. East Coast – gCaptain
▻http://gcaptain.com/containership-loses-about-70-containers-overboard-off-us-east-coast
A 10,000 TEU containership lost about 70 containers overboard on Saturday night while about 17 miles off Oregon Inlet, North Carolina.
The U.S. Coast Guard is warning mariners of navigation hazards.
The 324-meter Maersk Shanghai contacted USCG watchstanders at Sector North Carolina’s command center via VHF-FM marine radio channel 16 on Saturday evening notifying them that they lost approximately 70 to 73 cargo containers due to high winds and heavy seas.
The ship is sailing from Norfolk, Virginia to Charleston, South Carolina, according to AIS data.
The incident comes as a powerful nor’easter slammed the East Coast over the weekend, producing hurricane force winds and significant wave heights up in excess of 40 feet in the western Atlantic.
]]>US Border Agents Didn’t Verify Any e-Passports Since 2007 Because They Didn’t Have the Software
►https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/government/us-border-agents-didnt-verify-any-e-passports-since-2007-because-t
The United States of America, the country with one of the most draconian border crossing procedures in the world, hadn’t verified the validity of chip-implanted e-passports since 2007, the time when foreigners were first required to have one. Shockingly, the reason is that US border agents lacked the software to do so, according to revelations made this week by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) in a letter sent to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) (...)
]]>One Day After Florida School Shooter Kills 17, Oregon House Passes Gun Control Bill - Willamette Week
▻http://www.wweek.com/news/2018/02/15/one-day-after-florida-school-shooter-kills-17-oregon-house-passes-gun-control
The day after a gunman killed 17 in a Florida high school, an emotional Oregon House of Representatives voted 37-23 to pass House Bill 4145, the so-called “boyfriend loophole” bill.
Current law allows police to take guns away from offenders convicted of domestic violence against their spouses. The bill would expand that power to allow police to take guns away from intimate partners (i.e. those not married to their victims) who have been convicted of domestic violence or are the subject of a stalking order
]]>Thelazia gulosa: US woman becomes first human infected with parasitic eye worm
▻http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/eye-worm-thelazia-gulosa-first-human-case-abby-beckley-oregon-a820775
Abby Beckley, a 26-year-old from Oregon, felt an itching sensation in her eye for more than a week before she pulled a half-inch (1.27 cm) long worm out of her own eyeball, researchers said.
Confused – and worried she might go blind – Ms Beckley went to a local doctor, who fished out two more worms. An ophthalmologist found three more.
Eventually Ms Beckley wound up at the CDC, where researchers identified the parasite as a member of the Thelazia family. Over the course of 20 days, Ms Beckley and her doctors pulled 14 of the worms out of her eye, according to a report published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
"They weren’t able to remove them all at once. They had to remove them as they became present and visible,” Richard Bradbury, a CDC researcher and lead author of a case report on the event, told CBS.
]]> Une nouvelle fois, un village américain défend son eau face à Nestlé RTS - 4 Février 2018 - afp/mh _
▻http://www.rts.ch/info/monde/9305618-une-nouvelle-fois-un-village-americain-defend-son-eau-face-a-nestle.html
Au nord des Etats-Unis, la commune d’Osceola Township dans le Michigan tente d’empêcher le géant suisse Nestlé d’extraire davantage l’eau de ses rivières. Son cas n’est pas unique.
Selon la population locale, les rivières ont rétréci depuis le début des années 2000, lorsque le géant de l’agroalimentaire Nestlé a commencé à pomper l’eau de la région pour la vendre sous la marque Ice Mountain, présentée comme eau de source, donc plus chère que de l’eau purifiée.
Située à 320 kilomètres au nord de Detroit, la commune agricole de quelque 900 habitants ne veut pas autoriser le géant suisse à construire une station de pompage visant à extraire 1500 litres d’eau par minute, contre 950 litres actuellement.
Montant dérisoire
Osceola Township a fait appel en janvier d’une décision d’une juge au motif que le projet de Nestlé allait affecter l’aquifère. Des données de scientifiques rémunérés par Nestlé montrent qu’il n’y a pas d’impact sur l’environnement, mais il n’existe pas d’étude indépendante.
La colère du village est en grande partie nourrie par le sentiment d’être exploité. Nestlé paie 200 dollars par an à l’Etat du Michigan pour pomper près de 500 millions de litres.
BONUS :
Levée de boucliers aux Etats-Unis
Le village d’Osceola Township n’est pas le premier à s’opposer à Nestlé. En 2015, la bourgade de Cascade Locks, dans l’Oregon, s’est insurgée contre la privatisation de la gorge du Columbia.
Entre économie et écologie, Nestlé à nouveau critiqué dans l’ouest des USA (Cascade Locks (Oregon))
▻https://www.rts.ch/info/sciences-tech/reperages-web/6963777-entre-economie-et-ecologie-nestle-a-nouveau-critique-dans-l-ouest-des-us
La même année, les Californiens s’élevaient contre le pompage de l’eau par Nestlé alors que la région faisait face à une sécheresse dramatique, au point de rationner la consommation des habitants.
En pleine sécheresse, Nestlé continue de pomper l’eau californienne
▻https://www.rts.ch/info/monde/6685785-en-pleine-secheresse-nestle-continue-de-pomper-l-eau-californienne.html
#vol #pillage #eau #extractivisme #résistance #USA #Etats-Unis #Michigan #multinationales #nestlé #privatisation #fiscalité
Pour faire suite à ▻https://seenthis.net/messages/651061
ainsi que : ▻https://seenthis.net/messages/632003
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/628888
Le champignon de la fin du monde. Sur les possibilités de vivre dans les #ruines du #capitalisme
Ce n’est pas seulement dans les pays ravagés par la guerre qu’il faut apprendre à vivre dans les ruines. Car les ruines se rapprochent et nous enserrent de toute part, des sites industriels aux paysages naturels dévastés. Mais l’erreur serait de croire que l’on se contente d’y survivre.
Dans les ruines prolifèrent en effet de nouveaux mondes qu’Anna Tsing a choisi d’explorer en suivant l’odyssée étonnante d’un mystérieux #champignon qui ne pousse que dans les forêts détruites.
Suivre les #matsutakes, c’est s’intéresser aux cueilleurs de l’#Oregon, ces travailleurs précaires, vétérans des guerres américaines, immigrés #sans-papiers, qui vendent chaque soir les champignons ramassés le jour et qui termineront comme des produits de luxe sur les étals des épiceries fines japonaises. Chemin faisant, on comprend pourquoi la « #précarité » n’est pas seulement un terme décrivant la condition des #cueilleurs sans emploi stable mais un concept pour penser le monde qui nous est imposé.
Suivre les matsutakes, c’est apporter un éclairage nouveau sur la manière dont le capitalisme s’est inventé comme mode d’#exploitation et dont il ravage aujourd’hui la planète.
Suivre les matsutakes, c’est aussi une nouvelle manière de faire de la biologie : les champignons sont une espèce très particulière qui bouscule les fondements des sciences du vivant.
Les matsutakes ne sont donc pas un prétexte ou une métaphore, ils sont le support surprenant d’une leçon d’optimisme dans un monde désespérant.
XOR should be an English word
▻http://webassemblycode.com/xor-english-word
Soup xor salad? This question is much clearer than Soup or salad. Why? As we are going to see in this article, the word XOR would not allow choosing soup and salad, which is not expected, but it is an allowed option when the word OR is used. What is XOR anyway?
ADD, what do you do? I add. SUB, and you? I subtract. XOR? Me? Well I…
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Comparing XOR and OR
Table for the XOR function:
A B XOR
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0
Table for the OR function:
A B OR
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 1
The only difference between XOR and OR happens for A=1 and B=1, where the result is 0 for XOR and 1 for OR. Real Life, OR or XOR? In real life we say OR, but usually the intention is actually XOR, lets see some examples: Example 1: Mom: Son, where is your father? Son: Working on (...)
]]>Juste pour ne pas oublier que les #États-Unis, c’est surtout ça plutôt qu’autre chose.
Oregon woman evicted from senior housing for $328 in late rent freezes to death in parking garage – Blooms Mag
▻http://bloomsmag.com/oregon-woman-evicted-from-senior-housing-for-328-in-late-rent-freezes-to-
Karen Batts, 52, died from hypothermia Saturday in the Smart Park parking garage in Portland, Oregon, homeless over $338 in delinquent rent. Batts is the second person to freeze to death, alone, on Portland’s streets in 2017.
]]>#Ursula_K_Le_Guin, Acclaimed for Her Fantasy Fiction, Is Dead at 88 - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/obituaries/ursula-k-le-guin-acclaimed-for-her-fantasy-fiction-is-dead-at-88.html
Ursula K. Le Guin, the immensely popular author who brought literary depth and a tough-minded feminist sensibility to science fiction and fantasy with books like “The Left Hand of Darkness” and the Earthsea series, died on Monday at her home in Portland, Ore. She was 88.
Her son, Theo Downes-Le Guin, confirmed the death. He did not specify a cause but said she had been in poor health for several months.
Ms. Le Guin embraced the standard themes of her chosen genres: sorcery and dragons, spaceships and planetary conflict. But even when her protagonists are male, they avoid the macho posturing of so many science fiction and fantasy heroes. The conflicts they face are typically rooted in a clash of cultures and resolved more by conciliation and self-sacrifice than by swordplay or space battles.
]]>Five Things the Government Shutdown Could Mean for Wild Horses & Burros | American Wild Horse Campaign
▻https://americanwildhorsecampaign.org/media/five-things-government-shutdown-could-mean-wild-horses-bu
(January 20, 2018) ... Late last night, the U.S. Senate failed to come to agreement on a Continuing Resolution to keep the government running, sparking a government shutdown. The duration of the shutdown is unknown, as Senators and House members meet todayin another attempt to reach an agreement.
Here are five ways that wild horses and burros could be affected.
1. Wild horses and burros in Bureau of Land Management (BLM) holding facilities will continue to be fed and cared for. The BLM has confirmed to AWHC that this is considered an essential government service that will continue during the shutdown.
2. Pending wild horse roundups – scheduled to start next week — could be delayed or cancelled. That means that the 1,400 wild horses targeted for removal could enjoy a few more days - or weeks - of freedom on our public lands.
AWHC received word this morning that the pending round up of 100 horses from the Cold Springs/ Hog Creek Herd Management Areas in Oregon has been “suspended until further notice.” No information yet on how the shutdown will impact the planned removal of 1,000 horses from Nevada’s Triple B Complex, scheduled to start next week, or the 300-horse roundup, currently scheduled to begin on January 30 in Utah’s Bible Springs Complex.
3. Deadlines for public comments on various proposed actions related to federally protected wild horses and burros may be extended. This includes the roundup in Nevada’s Seaman/White River Herd Areas and a scoping period for the Forest Service’s plan to construct an on-range holding facility to facilitate the removal of as many as 2,000 wild horses from the Devils Garden Wild Horse Territory in California.
4. Congress’ decision on whether to grant the BLM’s request to kill tens of thousands of wild horses and burros will be delayed – again. Even if the Congress comes to agreement to restart the government, it will do so under a Continuing Resolution that will keep the government running under the provisions of the 2017 omnibus spending bill. That’s good news for wild horses and burros, because the 2017 bill prohibits the BLM from destroying healthy wild horses and burros and from selling them for slaughter.
5. Wild horse and burro advocates will have to remain ready to act … but at the right time. Calls to Congress at this moment urging continued protections for wild horses and burros are likely to be lost in all the noise on Capitol Hill.
It’s unclear whether Congress will return to deliberating actual Fiscal Year 2018 spending legislation. When and if it does, members will decide between the Senate Interior Appropriations bill (which prohibits killing and slaughter of wild horses and burros) and the House version (which allows for the destruction of healthy wild horses and burros, putting tens of thousands in danger of being killed). That will be the time to weigh in and ensure that the voice of 80 percent of Americans who oppose the killing and slaughter of America’s iconic mustangs and burros is heard.
So stay informed, stay ready and stay tuned!
]]>Le champignon de la fin du monde - Anna Lowenhaupt TSING - Éditions La Découverte
►http://www.editionsladecouverte.fr/catalogue/index-Le_champignon_de_la_fin_du_monde-9782359251364.html
Ce n’est pas seulement dans les pays ravagés par la guerre qu’il faut apprendre à vivre dans les ruines. Car les ruines se rapprochent et nous enserrent de toute part, des sites industriels aux paysages naturels dévastés. Mais l’erreur serait de croire que l’on se contente d’y survivre.
Dans les ruines prolifèrent en effet de nouveaux mondes qu’Anna Tsing a choisi d’explorer en suivant l’odyssée étonnante d’un mystérieux #champignon qui ne pousse que dans les forêts détruites.
Suivre les #matsutakes, c’est s’intéresser aux cueilleurs de l’Oregon, ces travailleurs précaires, vétérans des guerres américaines, immigrés sans papiers, qui vendent chaque soir les champignons ramassés le jour et qui termineront comme des produits de luxe sur les étals des épiceries fines japonaises. Chemin faisant, on comprend pourquoi la « précarité » n’est pas seulement un terme décrivant la condition des cueilleurs sans emploi stable mais un concept pour penser le monde qui nous est imposé.
Suivre les matsutakes, c’est apporter un éclairage nouveau sur la manière dont le #capitalisme s’est inventé comme mode d’exploitation et dont il ravage aujourd’hui la planète.
Suivre les matsutakes, c’est aussi une nouvelle manière de faire de la biologie : les champignons sont une espèce très particulière qui bouscule les fondements des sciences du vivant.
Les matsutakes ne sont donc pas un prétexte ou une métaphore, ils sont le support surprenant d’une leçon d’#optimisme dans un monde désespérant.
]]>The Washington Post Is A Software Company Now
►https://www.fastcompany.com/40495770/the-washington-post-is-a-software-company-now
The newspaper created a platform to tackle its own challenges. Then, with Amazon-like spirit, it realized there was a business in helping other publishers do the same.
Since 2014, a new Post operation now called Arc Publishing has offered the publishing system the company originally used for WashingtonPost.com as a service. That allows other news organizations to use the Post’s tools for writers and editors. Arc also shoulders the responsibility of ensuring that readers get a snappy, reliable experience when they visit a site on a PC or mobile device. It’s like a high-end version of Squarespace or WordPress.com, tailored to solve the content problems of a particular industry.
Among the publications that have moved to Arc are the Los Angeles Times, Canada’s Globe and Mail, the New Zealand Herald, and smaller outfits such as Alaska Dispatch News and Oregon’s Willamette Week. In aggregate, sites running on Arc reach 300 million readers; publishers pay based on bandwidth, which means that the more successful they are at attracting readers, the better it is for Arc Publishing. The typical bottom line ranges from $10,000 a month at the low end up to $150,000 a month for Arc’s biggest customers.
The Washington Post doesn’t disclose Arc Publishing’s revenue or whether it’s currently profitable. (The Post itself turned a profit in 2016.) It does say, however, that Arc’s revenue doubled year-over-year and the goal is to double it again in 2018. According to Post CIO Shailesh Prakash, the company sees the platform as something that could eventually become a $100 million business.
L’intérêt de mélanger développeurs et usagers
Back at Post headquarters in Washington, D.C., “because the technologists and the reporters and editors are often sitting alongside each other, sometimes we can get away with a less formal process to identify needs,” explains Gilbert. “A technologist can see when a reporter or editor is having trouble with something, and so sometimes it doesn’t have to be ‘file a ticket,’ ‘file a complaint,’ ‘send an email to an anonymous location.’” For instance, when editorial staffers wondered if it was possible for the Post site to preview videos with a moving clip rather than a still photo, a video developer quickly built a tool to allow editors to create snippets. “We see a much higher click-through rate when people use these animated GIFs than when they used the static images from before,” Gilbert says.
]]>Sujets ou objets ? Détenus et expérimentation humaine Barron H. Lerner docteur en médecine, docteur en philosophie
Source : Academic Commons – Columbia University, le 03/05/2007
Dans les années 50, les détenus de ce qu’on appelait alors, à Philadelphie, la prison Holmesburg, ont reçu des inoculations de condyloma acuminatum [verrues ano-génitales], de candidoses cutanées et de virus causant verrues, herpès simplex et zona. [1] Pour participer à cette recherche et à des études les exposant à la dioxine et à des produits de guerre chimique, on les a payés jusqu’à 1500 $ par mois. Entre 1963 et 1971, des chercheurs d’Oregon et de Washington ont irradié des prisonniers sains et leur ont prélevé à plusieurs reprises des échantillons de biopsie des testicules ; ces hommes ont par la suite fait état d’éruptions, de desquamation et d’ampoules sur le scrotum, ainsi que de difficultés sexuelles. [2] Des centaines d’expériences similaires ont incité le gouvernement fédéral à interdire strictement en 1978 la recherche impliquant des prisonniers. Le message était : de telles méthodes de recherche sont fondamentalement abusives et par conséquent immorales.
Un récent rapport de l’Institut de Médecine (l’OIM) a pourtant rouvert cette porte close, en avançant que non seulement une telle recherche peut être effectuée de façon acceptable, mais que les prisonniers méritent d’être inclus dans des études au moins ceux qui pourraient en profiter directement. L’analyse des justifications aux restrictions américaines à la recherche en prison et à ses applications peut offrir des lignes directrices aux actuels débats politiques.
On connaît depuis longtemps la vulnérabilité des prisonniers aux abus. Dès 1906, par exemple, les critiques ont noté à quel point il aurait été difficile à des prisonniers de refuser de participer à une expérience sur le choléra qui a finalement tué 13 hommes. [3] Cependant, les enquêteurs cherchaient périodiquement « des volontaires » parmi de telles populations captives dont le placement en institution offrait aux chercheurs l’accès à des sujets peu susceptibles d’échapper au suivi.
De telles recherches n’ont pour la plupart pas cherché à profiter aux participants. En 1915, par exemple, le chercheur du service de santé publique Joseph Goldberger a inoculé la pellagre à des prisonniers du Mississippi sains, auxquels la liberté conditionnelle a été offerte en échange de leur participation. Ceux qui se sont inscrits ont éprouvé des symptômes très graves de la maladie, y compris diarrhée, éruption cutanée et confusion mentale. [3] Goldberger a, cependant, prouvé son hypothèse que la pellagre était une maladie de carence vitaminique qui pourrait être guérie par l’ingestion de vitamine B, à présent connue comme acide nicotinique. Grâce à ce travail, comme la découverte de l’insuline et des premiers agents antimicrobiens, l’entre-deux-guerres a été une époque d’avancées pour la recherche scientifique.
La Seconde Guerre mondiale a transformé l’expérimentation contestable sur des prisonniers en une entreprise artisanale. Tandis que d’autres Américains risquaient leurs vies sur les champs de bataille, les prisonniers ont joué leur rôle en participant à des études qui les ont exposés à la blennorragie, à la gangrène gazeuse, à la dengue et à la malaria. [1] L’urgence de la guerre a conduit à délaisser toute considération de consentement digne de ce nom.
Il est ironique que le plus important coup de pouce qu’ait reçu une pareille expérimentation fût une conséquence, après-guerre, du procès de Nuremberg au cours duquel vingt médecins nazis furent jugés et qui a donné naissance au Code de Nuremberg, un ensemble de principes ayant pour but d’interdire l’expérimentation sur des humains sans leur consentement. Quand les avocats de la défense ont laissé entendre que les scientifiques américains avaient mené pendant la guerre des recherches analogues à celles des nazis, un témoin à charge, Andrew C. Ivy, a cité des expériences sur la malaria impliquant des prisonniers de l’Illinois comme un exemple de recherche non coercitive « idéale ». La publication en 1948 des conclusions d’Ivy a aidé à institutionnaliser l’expérimentation en prison pour le quart de siècle suivant. [4]
C’est une expérience impliquant une autre population vulnérable qui a interrompu la recherche en prison. En 1972, un journaliste d’Associated Press a dévoilé que des hommes noirs pauvres du Sud atteints de syphilis avaient été délibérément laissés sans traitement pendant 40 ans, afin que les chercheurs puissent étudier le cours naturel de la maladie. Dans le contexte de la campagne pour les droits civils et des protestations contre la guerre du Viêtnam, une telle recherche a été condamnée. Le scandale a conduit à la formation de la Commission nationale pour la Protection des sujets humains de recherche biomédicale et comportementale et finalement au Rapport Belmont, qui a recommandé de réorganiser l’expérimentation humaine en appliquant les principes de respect des personnes, de non-malfaisance et de justice.
Dans le cas des recherches en prison, le nouveau cadre se révèle particulièrement restrictif. En 1978, le ministère de la Santé et des Services à la personne (DHHS) a adopté des règles qui ont limité de plusieurs façons la recherche financée au niveau fédéral impliquant des prisonniers, en stipulant, par exemple, que les expériences ne pourraient faire courir qu’un risque minimal aux sujets. La préoccupation primordiale était que les prisons sont des environnements en eux-mêmes coercitifs dans lesquels un consentement éclairé ne peut jamais être obtenu. Le fait que des recherches offrent récompense financière, allègement de l’ennui et perspective d’une obtention de liberté conditionnelle plus rapide les rend même encore plus problématiques.
Telle était l’opinion qui dominait jusqu’à 2004, lorsque le DHHS a demandé à l’OIM de revoir sa position à ce sujet. En août 2006, l’OIM a publié son rapport qui a reconnu qu’il serait judicieux de laisser la situation en l’état. Par exemple, la population carcérale américaine comprend un nombre disproportionné de personnes vulnérables : les membres de groupes minoritaires, ceux atteints de maladie mentale, d’infection au VIH et autres maladies infectieuses graves. Les prisons sont généralement surchargées et leurs services médicaux sont insuffisants. Tous ces facteurs ont suggéré que n’importe quel allègement des restrictions pourrait mener à la répétition des précédentes erreurs.
La commission de l’OIM, bien que sensible aux « abus déraisonnables » du passé, a cependant conseillé que des expériences comportant plus de risques que le risque minimal soient autorisées, sous réserve que des études impliquant des médicaments ou autres interventions biomédicales devaient apporter un bénéfice potentiel aux prisonniers. La commission a aussi conseillé plusieurs garde-fous, comme la création d’une base de données publique des expériences en prison, la limitation de la recherche aux interventions ayant démontré innocuité et efficacité, l’assurance que les études incluent une majorité de sujets non prisonniers et l’exigence que les propositions de recherche soient examinées par des comités de contrôle institutionnels comprenant des représentants des prisonniers.
La décision de la commission est valable pour plusieurs raisons. La première pourrait être qualifiée d’historique. Pendant la plus grande partie du 20e siècle, malgré les découvertes de Nuremberg et d’autres avertissements ponctuels, l’expérimentation humaine a été largement considérée comme « une bonne chose », qui ferait avancer la science et bénéficierait à la santé. La réaction de retournement contre l’expérimentation en prison est survenue dans les années 70, quand l’autorité était mise en question dans toute la société. Aucun mécanisme n’était en place pour garantir les droits de sujets vulnérables. Interdire toute recherche risquée dans les prisons était donc judicieux.
On a l’habitude de dire que ceux qui ignorent l’histoire sont condamnés à la répéter. Mais la décision de conserver les actuelles restrictions à cause des abus du passé conduirait à négliger plusieurs importants développements. Depuis 1978, un réseau de comités de révision institutionnels a été établi dans les instituts nationaux de santé, dans d’autres organismes gouvernementaux et des sites de recherche universitaire par tout le pays. Avec « le consentement éclairé » à présent entré dans le langage commun, les sujets d’étude sont plus conscients de leurs droits. Et, en grande partie à la suite du travail des militants de la lutte contre le sida et contre le cancer du sein, des personnes malades et à risques, même celles qui appartiennent aux populations potentiellement vulnérables, poursuivent à présent activement leur participation aux protocoles de recherche. Bien que tous ces développements ne soient pas clairement positifs, les ignorer eux et les opportunités qu’ils peuvent offrir aux prisonniers devrait être une attitude de régression. Comme dit le rapport de l’OIM, « Le respect des prisonniers exige aussi la reconnaissance de leur autonomie. »
Un autre argument en faveur de l’assouplissement des restrictions est l’assertion que toute recherche en milieu carcéral est problématique pourrait ne pas être correcte. À la lumière des abus, les critiques ont tout naturellement soutenu que l’expérimentation humaine en prison a échoué parce qu’elle a lieu dans un environnement coercitif qui dénature n’importe quelle possibilité de consentement éclairé. Mais c’est une théorie qui peut et doit être examinée empiriquement par des études formelles du processus de consentement dans les prisons. De plus, comme le philosophe Carl Cohen en a débattu, la recherche à l’extérieur des prisons a souvent tout autant d’éléments coercitifs – si on admet que la coercition est employée, elle peut ne pas avoir grand-chose à voir avec la condition de prisonnier. [5]
Finalement, rétablir, puis contrôler la recherche en prison offrirait à la société l’opportunité d’un contrôle continu et d’une réévaluation. En effet, la commission de l’OIM a trouvé que beaucoup de recherches non réglementées en prison avaient été menées sans tenir compte des directives de 1978. Nombre d’expériences tristement célèbres en prison ont impliqué la tromperie active des participants à l’étude – un abus facile à éviter si l’initiative entière est menée honnêtement. Il est même possible que de telles recherches, en ouvrant une fenêtre sur la vie carcérale, attirent utilement l’attention sur les lacunes des services médicaux en prison.
Les nouvelles réglementations doivent cependant être abordées avec appréhension. Comme le sociologue Erving Goffman l’a montré dans son livre de 1961 « Asiles, “des institutions totales” », des prisons peuvent se moquer totalement des droits de leurs habitants. Peut-être devrait-on exiger de toute personne qui s’engage dans une recherche à l’intérieur des murs d’une prison qu’il lise ce livre.
Le docteur Lerner est maître de conférence de médecine et de santé publique à l’Université Columbia, New York.
1. Hornblum AM. They were cheap and available : prisoners as research subjects in twentieth century America (Ils étaient bon marché et disponibles : les prisonniers comme sujets de recherche dans l’Amérique du vingtième siècle). BMJ 1997 ; 315:1437-41.
2. Welsome E. The plutonium files : America’s secret medical experiments in the Cold War (Les dossiers du plutonium : les expériences médicales secrètes de l’Amérique pendant la guerre froide). New York : Delta, 1999:362-82.
3. Lederer SE. Subjected to science : human experimentation in America before the Second World War (Soumis à la science : l’expérimentation humaine en Amérique avant la Seconde Guerre mondiale). Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.
4. Harkness JM. Nuremberg and the issue of wartime experiments on US prisoners : the Green Committee. (Nuremberg et la question des expérimentations en temps de guerre sur des prisonniers américains : le Comité Vert) JAMA 1996 ;276:1672-5.
5. Cohen C. Medical experimentation on prisoners (L’Expérimentation médicale sur les prisonniers). Perspect Biol Med 1978 ;21:357-72.
Source : Academic Commons – Columbia University, le 03/05/2007, lien ▻https://www.les-crises.fr/sujets-ou-objets-detenus-et-experimentation-humaine-par-barron-h-lerner
]]> Dix jours qui ébranlèrent le monde. Le titre du bouquin de John Reed n’avait rien d’une formule creuse : la révolution russe a profondément marqué l’histoire contemporaine. Mais du grand espoir qui se levait à l’Est, que demeure-t-il aujourd’hui ? « De l’entreprise bolchevique ne reste et ne restera rien qu’un immense amoncellement de cadavres torturés, la création inaugurale du totalitarisme, la perversion du mouvement ouvrier international, la destruction du langage – et la prolifération sur la planète de nombre de régimes d’esclavage sanguinaire. Au-delà, une matière de réflexion sur ce sinistre contre-exemple de ce que n’est pas une révolution », écrivait Cornélius Castoriadis.
▻http://cqfd-journal.org/Contre-le-complexe-d-avant-garde
Né à Portland (Oregon) en 1887, #John_Reed, rejeton de la bourgeoisie américaine, découvre les idées socialistes au cours de ses études à Harvard. Diplômé en 1910, il se tourne alors vers le journalisme et s’engage en faveur des #mouvements_ouvriers. Après avoir suivi #Pancho_Villa durant la #révolution_mexicaine, il se rend plusieurs fois en Europe et découvre la Russie en 1915. Farouchement opposé à la Première Guerre Mondiale et au régime tsariste, il arrive à Petrograd avec son épouse Louise Bryant en septembre 1917 et assiste avec enthousiasme à la révolution d’Octobre, événement qu’il raconte dans son ouvrage le plus célèbre : Dix jours qui ébranlèrent le monde. Après avoir contribué à la naissance du Communist Labor Party aux Etats-Unis, il retourne en Russie fin 1919 pour participer aux activités de l’Internationale communiste. Victime du typhus en 1920 à l’âge de 32 ans, il est enterré sur la place Rouge de Moscou, dans la nécropole du mur du Kremlin, aux côtés des révolutionnaires de 1917 dont il avait décrit le combat.
Could Mexico Be the Next Panama Canal for Gas ? Drillers Think So - Bloomberg
(titre tout-à-fait trompeur, puisqu’il s’agit d’un éventuel tuyau, #gazoduc)
▻https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-19/could-mexico-be-the-next-panama-canal-for-gas-drillers-think-so
Since the first shale gas export terminal opened in Louisiana last year, America’s drillers have seen at least 75 cargoes of their fuel sail through the Panama Canal bound for markets in Asia.
Now they’re looking for a cheaper and quicker route. And they’ve turned to Mexico for help.
Aldo Flores, Mexico’s deputy energy secretary, said Thursday that the government’s in talks with shale drillers in West Texas about a potential pipeline that would send their gas straight to Mexico’s west coast, where it could then be liquefied and shipped overseas.
Such a pipeline could eliminate the need for gas tankers to navigate the Panama Canal and hand the U.S. another outlet for the bounty of gas that President Donald Trump has vowed to “unleash” upon the world. It comes as at least one would-be U.S. gas exporter, Sempra LNG & Midstream, voices concerns about delays at the canal that threaten to cost gas traders thousands of dollars a day.
[…]
A pipeline from Texas to Mexico’s west coast could be a costly proposition, Bloomberg New Energy Finance analyst Anastacia Dialynas said Thursday. But it would also be easier to build in Mexico, where there are less regulations than in Oregon, she said.
]]>Tsunami carried a million sea creatures from Japan to US west coast | World news | The Guardian
▻https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/29/tsunami-carried-million-sea-creatures-from-japan-to-us-west-coast?CMP=f
The deadly tsunami that struck north-east Japan in 2011 has carried almost 300 species of sea life thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean to the west coast of the United States.
In what experts are calling the longest maritime migration ever recorded, an estimated one million creatures – including crustaceans, sea slugs and sea worms – made the 4,800-mile (7,725km) journey on a flotilla of tsunami debris.
“This has turned out to be one of the biggest unplanned natural experiments in marine biology – perhaps in history,” said John Chapman, an expert at Oregon State University who co-authored a study of the creatures published this week in the journal Science.
The towering tsunami, triggered by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake on the afternoon of 11 March 2011, generated five million tonnes of debris from the three prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima.
About 70% sank quickly to the ocean floor, according to experts, but countless buoys, docks, boats and other items with buoyancy were swept out to sea.
Between June 2012 and February this year 289 Japanese species attached to 600 pieces of debris washed up on beaches in the states of Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska and Hawaii, as well as in the Canadian province of British Columbia, according to the study.
Comment le tsunami a provoqué une migration marine massive
▻https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/environnement-comment-le-tsunami-provoque-une-migration-marin
Droits de l’homme : Montée du racisme et de la xénophobie aux Etats-Unis | Radio des Nations Unies
▻http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/french/2017/08/droits-de-lhomme-montee-du-racisme-et-de-la-xenophobie-aux-etats-unis
Un groupe d’experts des droits de l’homme des Nations Unies a prévenu mercredi que le #racisme et la #xénophobie étaient en hausse aux #États-Unis. « Nous sommes indignés par les violences à Charlottesville et la haine raciale affichée par des extrémistes de droite, des #suprématistes blancs et des groupes #néo-nazis », ont déclaré ces experts dans une déclaration conjointe.
De son côté le Secrétaire général de l’ONU a lui aussi declaré que Le racisme, la xénophobie, l’#antisémitisme et l’#islamophobie sont des poisons pour nos societés.
Ces experts sont Sabelo Gumedze, Président du Groupe de travail des experts sur les personnes d’ascendance africaine, Mutuma Ruteere, Rapporteur spécial sur les formes contemporaines de racisme, de #discrimination raciale, de xénophobie et d’intolérance qui y est associée, et Anastasia Crickley, Présidente du Comité pour l’élimination de la discrimination raciale.
Hate Crimes Rise in Major US Cities in 2017
▻https://www.voanews.com/a/hate-crimes-rising-in-us/4034719.html
Hate crimes have jumped by nearly 20 percent in major U.S. cities through much of this year, after increasing nationally by 5 percent last year, according to police data compiled by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University at San Bernardino.
The number of hate crimes in 13 cities with a population of over 250,000 rose to 827 incidents, up 19.9 percent from 690 reported during the same period last year, according to the study. Only two cities - Columbus, Ohio, and Riverside, California - posted declines.
Among the nation’s six largest cities, including New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago, the number of hate incidents increased to 526 from 431 last year, up 22.4 percent, according to the study.
In New York City, hate crimes jumped 28.4 percent; in Los Angeles by 13 percent; in Philadelphia by 9 percent; in Chicago, by 8.3 percent, and in Phoenix, Arizona, by a whopping 46 percent. Houston, the nation’s No. 4 city, bucked the trend, reporting five incidents through July 31, the same number as last year.
Major hate crimes reported this year included the stabbing of an African-American man in New York City in March; the fatal stabbing of two men protecting a hijab-wearing Muslim woman in Portland, Oregon in May; and the killing of a protester in Charlottesville, Virginia last month.
All were committed by “avowed white supremacists,” said Brian Levin, director of the hate and extremism studies center in California.
If 2017 ends with an overall increase, it would mark the third consecutive annual rise in hate crimes, something not seen since 2004, according to Levin said.
]]>Poll finds U.S.-Mexico border residents overwhelmingly value mobility, oppose wall
Residents who live along the U.S.-Mexico border overwhelmingly prefer bridges over fences and are dead set against building a new wall, according to a Cronkite News-Univision-Dallas Morning News poll.
#sondage #murs #opposition #résistance #USA #Mexique #frontières #barrières_frontalières
]]>#collapsologie #ruines #catastrophe #capitalisme #ecologie
Le Monde des Livres
#ethnologie #japon #oregon
#matsutake
La mondialisation et le champignon
C’est l’histoire d’un champignon, appelé matsutake, dont raffolent les riches Japonais depuis des siècles, à tel point qu’il servait de cadeau précieux pour honorer alliances, mariages et amitiés. Mais l’exploitation industrielle des forêts japonaises, de la fin du XIXe siècle à 1945, -conduisit à sa disparition totale à partir des années 1950. Or, cette même exploitation industrielle, dans un contexte écologique différent, l’a au contraire fait pousser en masse à l’autre bout du Pacifique, dans les forêts de l’Oregon, dès les années 1970. Une foule hétéroclite de cueilleurs s’est alors ruée sur cette manne : des hippies ou vétérans de la guerre du Vietnam fuyant les foules urbaines, des Latinos clandestins se cachant de la police, des montagnards des minorités ethniques d’Asie du Sud-Est (recrutés par l’armée américaine lors de sa croisade anticommuniste, au-jour-d’hui réfugiés politiques) cherchant mieux que les salaires de misère proposés dans les grandes villes. Via une cascade d’intermédiaires - acheteurs, trieurs, grossistes, revendeurs -, un trafic alimente désormais quotidiennement par avion boutiques et restaurants de luxe des mégapoles japonaises.
C’est cette histoire extraordinaire qu’Anna Tsing, anthropologue à l’université de Californie à Santa Cruz, raconte avec talent dans son ouvrage, où se mêlent étroitement l’étude ethnologique de ces communautés humaines précaires et l’étude écologique des équilibres instables entre -espèces. Ces relations entre -humains et non-humains, que l’auteur appelle des « agencements », sont donc à la fois le produit d’une mondialisation capitaliste ravageuse - pour les forêts comme pour les hommes - et l’origine de l’une des formes de cette mondialisation reliant les deux rives du Pacifique.
Mais au-delà de cette histoire, en soi palpitante, qui nous emmène également, à des fins -comparatives, dans les forêts du Yunnan (sud de la Chine), du Japon et de Laponie, le champignon permet à Anna Tsing de dépasser de façon fulgurante la vision communément admise de ce que sont l’économie, la politique et la science, par une nouvelle approche issue du constat suivant : le capitalisme mondialisé n’est plus seulement un vecteur de progrès de la condition humaine, il est aussi, par l’extension continuelle de sa prédation, celui de la destruction de la planète et de la fragilisation de ses habitants, -humains et non-humains.
« Regarder autour de nous »
Néanmoins, au lieu de se conten-ter de s’opposer à cette destruction (ce qui est certes -nécessaire mais suppose un objectif illusoire de retour du progrès dans le « droit chemin »), l’auteure invite à « chercher du côté de ce qui a été ignoré, de ce qui n’a jamais concordé avec la linéarité du progrès », à observer ce qui se passe au milieu des ruines laissées par la prédation capitaliste. Car c’est là que se nouent, selon elle, ces enchevêtrements porteurs non pas d’alternative, mais de vie, tout simplement. Même s’il s’agit d’agencements locaux, fugaces et temporaires, « il nous faut regarder autour de nous plutôt qu’en avant ». Elle propose ainsi un nouveau « travail politique » visant à faire émerger ce qu’elle appelle des « communs latents ». « Quand on vit dans l’indéterminé, de telles lueurs constituent la politique », un ici et maintenant encore préférable au bien commun rédempteur et utopique que promettait un progrès désormais jugé inatteignable.
Une autre façon de faire de la politique, mais aussi de la science. Car de même que l’économie capitaliste supprime la variété des ressources pour n’en sélectionner et n’en dupliquer ad nauseam qu’une seule (la plus rentable), -détruisant les autres au passage, la science néodarwinienne de la sélection génétique néglige ce que montrent les avancées les plus récentes de la « bio-écologie » : une espèce n’évolue pas « contre » son environnement ou les variétés concurrentes, mais en fonction de leurs interrelations et des événements historiques. « La nature pourrait sélectionner des relations, bien plus que des individus ou des génomes », note Anna Tsing.
« En distillant des principes généraux, les théoriciens espèrent que d’autres les compléteront avec des cas particuliers (...). C’est un véritable arsenal intellectuel qui aide à consolider le mur entre concepts et histoires, et concrètement tout cela assèche l’importance de la sensibilité », proteste Anna Tsing, qui prône au contraire une « nouvelle alliance entre l’observation et le travail de terrain », résumée par le terme « prêter attention », en particulier à ce qui pousse entre les ruines. Le premier être vivant qui a surgi sur le sol irradié -d’Hiroshima en 1945 était un champignon.
Antoine Reverchon
Oregon Becomes the First State to Make Abortion Accessible to All Women - Broadly
▻https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/ywwpnv/oregon-becomes-the-first-state-to-make-abortion-accessible-to-all-wome
Merci Meta Tshiteya again...
Oregon just passed a law requiring insurance providers cover the full cost of abortion with no exceptions. The landmark move ensures that all Oregonians—documented or not—have full access to reproductive health care for the first time in history.
#droit_des_femmes #avortements #droits_humains #états_unis #oregon
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